Matthew Selt (born 7 March 1985) is an English professional snooker player originally from Romford and now living in Atherstone and playing out of the Atack snooker Centre in Nuneaton. He qualified for the professional tour by finishing seventh on the Pontin's International Open Series in 2006/2007. Selt played in his first professional final in 2014 at the minor-ranking Lisbon Open, which he lost to Stephen Maguire, and has reached five quarter-finals in full ranking events.

Selt began the 2011/2012 season ranked 43rd meaning he would have to win two qualifying matches to reach the ranking event main draws.[3] He did this at the first ranking event of the season: the Australian Goldfields Open by beating Adrian Gunnell and Ricky Walden.[4] In the last 32 he played reigning world champion John Higgins and pulled off the biggest result of his career to date by overcoming a deficit of 1–4, to triumph 5–4 and win a televised match for the first time.[5] He then beat Stephen Hendry 5–1 to earn himself his first ranking event quarter-final, where he lost 3–5 to Shaun Murphy.[6] Selt qualified for the main draw of the UK Championship for the first time in 2011 by defeating Mark King 6–4 in the final round of qualifying.[7] His reward was a tie against former world championGraeme Dott, who beat him 6–1.[8] He failed to qualify for any of the remaining ranking events and finished the season ranked world number 44.[4][9]

He rediscovered his form in World Championship Qualifying by seeing off Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon 10–8 to be just one match away from reaching the opening round of the tournament for the first time.[13] Selt played 1997 champion Ken Doherty and at 9–4 ahead he looked to be heading to the Crucible with ease. However, Doherty came back to trail 7–9, and when Selt lost the next frame from a position of 55–0 ahead all the momentum was with the Irishman. The match went into a deciding frame with Selt again building a 55–0 lead and this time hanging on to seal his place in the first round, where he met world number one Mark Selby, losing 4–10.[13][14] He ended the campaign where he started it, ranked world number 44.[15]

Selt failed to qualify for the opening four ranking events of the 2013/2014 season, but then whitewashed Chris Norbury 6–0 to reach the first round of the International Championship, where he lost 6–3 to Martin Gould.[16] His best result by far in the minor-ranking European Tour events came at the final tournament, the Gdynia Open as he whitewashed three opponents 4–0 and beat Judd Trump 4–1 in a televised quarter-final, before losing by the same scoreline to Shaun Murphy in the semis. After the event, Selt stated that he had been neglecting his game for the last two years by occasionally practising two or three hours and that he believed his ranking of 50 would be 20 or 30 places higher if he had played to his true ability.[17] He finished 32nd on the European Order of Merit, seven places outside of qualifying for the Finals.[18] His deepest run in a ranking event this season came after this at the China Open when he beat Ryan Day 5–2, before losing 5–2 to Ali Carter in the last 32.[16]

Selt progressed through to the semi-finals of the Haining Open, losing 4–1 to Stuart Bingham.[19] His first win at the venue stage of a full ranking event this season came courtesy of a 6–0 whitewash over Hammad Miah at the UK Championship. Selt then knocked out Xiao Guodong and Rory McLeod both 6–4 to face Ronnie O'Sullivan in the fourth round. O'Sullivan made a 147 in the final frame as he won 6–0, with Selt saying afterwards that despite having numerous chances throughout the match he never settled.[20] Selt responded in his next event by winning four matches to reach the quarter-finals of the Lisbon Open and then defeated Judd Trump 4–1 and Barry Hawkins 4–2 to play in his first final in a minor-ranking event.[19] He took the opening frame against Stephen Maguire, but went on to lose 4–2.[21] His first quarter-final in a ranking event this season came at the PTC Grand Final after he eliminated Oliver Lines 4–1 and Chris Wakelin 4–2 and he led Mark Williams 3–1, but could not reach the first semi-final of his career as Williams would knock him out in a final frame decider.[22] Selt's season looked to be ending in disappointment as he trailed Jimmy White 7–2 in the second round of World Championship qualifying. However, he took eight of the nine frames upon the resumption of play and won in the final round 10–8 against Tom Ford.[23] In the first round Selt lost another opening session 7–2 this time against Barry Hawkins. He also went on to be 9–4 behind but then won five frames in a row which included back-to-back centuries and a 94 break. He couldn't win his first match at the Crucible Theatre as he lost the deciding frame.[24] Selt finished a season inside the top 32 in the rankings for the first time in his career as he was the world number 30.[25]

In the first round of the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open, Neil Robertson fought back to 4–4 after Selt had been 4–0 up. The deciding frame lasted 55 minutes and Selt took it on the final blue and then edged past Mark Joyce 5–4 to reach the quarter-finals of the event for the third time.[26] He was unable to feature in his first ranking event semi-final as Martin Gould comfortably beat him 5–1.[27] However, Selt rose to a career-high 27th in the world rankings soon afterwards and credited his improvement in play to his coach Chris Henry, his mentor Stephen Hendry, as well as his own personal fitness.[28] He lost 5–4 on the final black to Judd Trump in the second round of the Shanghai Masters.[29] Despite describing his play as pretty terrible, Selt reached the fourth round of the UK Championship and recovered from 3–1 down against Luca Brecel to knock him out 6–4. He also said that his 6–0 loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan a year earlier had improved him as a player. In his first UK quarter-final he was defeated 6–1 by Mark Selby, but the £20,000 in prize money he earned is the biggest of his career so far.[30][31] O'Sullivan beat Selt 3–0 in the semi-finals of the non-ranking Championship League. He failed to qualify for the World Championship after losing 10–9 to Mitchell Mann in the second qualifying round.[32] His ranking over the course of the season rose five places to world number 25.[33]

1.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years

2.
Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of sterling, the Guernsey pound and the Jersey pound. The pound sterling is also used in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Bank of England is the central bank for the pound sterling, issuing its own coins and banknotes, and regulating issuance of banknotes by private banks in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sterling is the fourth most-traded currency in the exchange market, after the United States dollar, the euro. Together with those three currencies it forms the basket of currencies which calculate the value of IMF special drawing rights, Sterling is also the third most-held reserve currency in global reserves. The full, official name, pound sterling, is used mainly in formal contexts, otherwise the term pound is normally used. The abbreviations ster. or stg. are sometimes used, the term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. The pound sterling is also referred to as cable amongst forex traders, the origins of this term are attributed to the fact that in the 1800s, the dollar/pound sterling exchange rate was transmitted via transatlantic cable. Forex brokers are sometimes referred to as cable dealers, as another established source notes, the compound expression was then derived, silver coins known as sterlings were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,240 of them being minted from a pound of silver. Hence, large payments came to be reckoned in pounds of sterlings, in 1260, Henry III granted them a charter of protection. And because the Leagues money was not frequently debased like that of England, English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the Easterlings, and land for their Kontor, the Steelyard of London, which by the 1340s was also called Easterlings Hall, or Esterlingeshalle. For further discussion of the etymology of sterling, see sterling silver, the currency sign for the pound sign is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar, though a version with a double cross-bar is also sometimes seen. The ISO4217 currency code is GBP, occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is non-standard because the ISO3166 country code for the United Kingdom is GB. The Crown dependencies use their own codes, GGP, JEP, stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX, when listing stock prices. A common slang term for the pound sterling or pound is quid, since decimalisation in 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. The symbol for the penny is p, hence an amount such as 50p properly pronounced fifty pence is more colloquially, quite often, pronounced fifty pee /fɪfti, pi and this also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system

3.
Glossary of cue sports terms
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There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The terms American or US as applied here refer generally to North American usage, similarly, British terms predominate in the world of snooker, English billiards and blackball, regardless of the players nationalities. The term blackball is used in this glossary to refer to both blackball and eight-ball pool as played in the Commonwealth, as a shorthand, 1-cushion See the Straight rail billiards main article for the game sometimes called one-cushion. 1-pocket See the One-pocket main article for the game, 3-ball See the Three-ball main article for the game. 3-cushion See the Three-cushion billiards main article for the game, 4-ball See the Yotsudama main article for the modern Asian game often called four-ball. See the American four-ball billiards main article for the nineteenth-century game, 5-pins See the Five-pin billiards main article for the formerly Italian, now internationally standardized game, or Danish pin billiards for the five-pin traditional game of Denmark. 6-ball See the Nine-ball#Six-ball sub-article for the game, 8-ball See the Eight-ball main article for the game. See the 8 ball entry, under the E section below, See 8 ball for derivative uses. 9-ball See the Nine-ball main article for the game, See the 9 ball entry, under the N section below, for the ball. 9-pins See the Goriziana main article for the game sometimes called nine-pins, 10-ball See the Ten-ball main article for the game. Above Used in snooker in reference to the position of the cue ball and it is above the object ball if it is off-straight on the baulk cushion side of the imaginary line for a straight pot. It is also common to use the term high instead, gambling or the potential for gambling. Lively results on a ball, usually the cue ball, from the application of spin, added Used with an amount to signify money added to a tournament prize fund in addition to the amount accumulated from entry fees. A match format in which a player has to establish a lead of a number of frames in order to win. Aiming line An imaginary line drawn from the path an object ball is to be sent. Anchor To freeze a ball to a cushion, such a ball may be said to be anchored and this term is largely obsolete balkline billiards jargon. Anchor nurse A type of shot used in carom billiards games. It developed to curtail the effectiveness of the nurse, which in turn had been invented to thwart the effectiveness of Parkers box in stopping long

4.
Century break
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In snooker, a century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table without missing a shot, and requires potting of at least 25 consecutive balls. Over 20,000 century breaks have been recorded by snooker players throughout professional tournaments, Ronnie OSullivan holds the record for the most career centuries, with over 800 century breaks. A century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table, the player does this by potting red balls and coloured balls alternately, and when no reds are left, potting the coloured balls in order of their increasing value. Points for a shot by the opponent do not count in a players break. If for example only the colour would be used instead of the black ball. This means that only a century break is possible in a frame of snooker under a limited number of combinations. To score one, there must be at least ten reds on the table when the comes to play since if there are only nine reds left. An exception exists if the opponent fouls and leaves the incoming player snookered on all the remaining reds, Breaks above 147 are possible when an opponent fouls and leaves a free ball with all fifteen reds still remaining on the table. This has happened once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship. A century of centuries refers to a total of 100 breaks of at least 100 points each, only 15 players had reached this milestone in professional snooker tournaments by December 2001. Only Neil Robertson has achieved the Holy Grail of one hundred 100s in a single season, the following players are reported to have passed 100 breaks and at least the given threshold above this. Career Joe Davis compiled the first televised century break in 1962, the record for most century breaks scored in official tournament play is held by Ronnie OSullivan with over 850. The record was held by Stephen Hendry who compiled 775 centuries over the course of his career. The first player to record 1000 centuries in public performance was Horace Lindrum, stacey Hillyard became the first female to record a competitive century in January 1985. The quickest recorded century break in tournament play was by Tony Drago at 1996 UK Championship, the youngest player to record a century break is Michael White at the age of nine in March 2001. Season The first player to reach 50 centuries in a season was Hendry, judd Trump took the record with 61 centuries in the 2012/2013 season and the record was broken for the fourth successive season in 2013/2014 when Neil Robertson overtook Trumps tally. In total, Robertson compiled 103 century breaks throughout the season, event The most centuries made by a player in a single match during a professional tournament is seven and the record is shared by Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui. Hendry set the record during the final of the 1994 UK Championship, during this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames

5.
Snooker
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Snooker is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the ball to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence. An individual game, or frame, is won by the player who scores the most points, a match is won when a player wins a predetermined number of frames. In the 1870s, billiards was a sport played by members of the British Army stationed in India. Snooker gained its own identity in 1884 when officer Sir Neville Chamberlain, while stationed in Ooty, devised a set of rules that combined pyramid, the word snooker was a long used military term used to describe inexperienced or first year personnel. The game grew in popularity in England, cemented by the formation of the Billiards Association and it is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The World Snooker Championship has taken place since 1927, with Joe Davis becoming a key figure in the growth of the sport with 15 championship wins from 1927 to 1946. Top professional players now compete regularly around the world and attain multi-million-pound career earnings, the sport has become increasingly popular in China. The origin of snooker dates back to the half of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, billiards was a popular activity amongst British Army officers stationed in India, one such variation originated at the officers mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in Jabalpur in 1875, which combined the rules of two pocket billiards games, pyramid and life pool. The former was played with fifteen red balls and one positioned in a triangle, while the latter involved the potting of designated coloured balls. The name instantly stuck with the players, in 1887, snooker was given its first definite reference in England in a copy of Sporting Life which caused a growth in popularity. Chamberlain came out as the inventor in a letter to The Field published on 19 March 1938,63 years after the fact. To accommodate the growing interest, smaller and more open snooker-specific clubs were formed, in 1919, the Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board merged to form the Billiards Association and Control Club and a new, standard set of rules for snooker first became official. Davis won every championship until 1946 when he retired. The game went into a decline through the 1950s and 1960s with little interest generated outside of those who played, in 1959, Davis introduced a variation of the game, known as snooker plus to try to improve the games popularity by adding two extra colours. The TV series became a success and was for a time the second most popular show on BBC Two

6.
Romford
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Romford is a large town in East London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located 14.1 miles northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a town in the county of Essex and formed the administrative centre of the liberty of Havering. It now forms one of the largest commercial, retail, entertainment, Romford is first recorded in 1177 as Romfort, which is formed from Old English rūm and ford and means the wide or spacious ford. The naming of the River Rom is a local back-formation from the name of the town, the ford most likely existed on the main London to Colchester road where it crossed that river. The original site of the town was to the south, in an area known as Oldchurch. It was moved northwards to the present site in the medieval period to avoid the frequent flooding of the River Rom. The first building on the new site was the church of Saint Edward the Confessor. The town developed in the Middle Ages on the road to London. The early history of Romford and the area is agricultural. Several failed attempts were made in the early 19th century to connect the town to the Thames via a Romford Canal. The development of the town was accelerated by the opening of the station in 1839 which stimulated the local economy and was key to the development of the Star Brewery. Initially Eastern Counties Railway services operated between Mile End and Romford, with extensions to Brentwood and to Shoreditch in 1840. A second station was opened on South Street in 1892 by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway on the line to Upminster and Grays, the two stations were combined into one in 1934. Suburban expansion increased the population and reinforced Romfords position as a significant regional town centre. Romford formed a chapelry in the ancient parish of Hornchurch in the Becontree hundred of Essex, as well as the town it included the wards of Collier Row, Harold Wood. Over time the vestry of Romford chapelry absorbed the powers that would usually be held by the parish authorities. Improvement commissioners were set up in 1819 for paving, lighting, watching, the remainder of the parish became part of the Romford rural sanitary district in 1875

7.
Atherstone
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Atherstone /ˈæðərstən/ is a town and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone forms part of the border with Leicestershire along the A5 national route and it lies midway between the larger towns of Tamworth and Nuneaton and contains the administrative offices of North Warwickshire Borough Council. Atherstone has a history dating back to Roman times. An important defended Roman settlement named Manduessedum existed at Mancetter near the site of modern-day Atherstone, and the Roman road, the Watling Street ran through the town. It is believed by historians that the rebel Queen of the Britons. The Domesday Book of 1086, records that Atherstone was held by Countess Godiva. The ancient St. Mary’s Chapel in Atherstone dates from the early 12th century when the monks of Bec made a donation of 12 acres to a house of friars and hermits, Mary’s Chapel seems to have experienced something of a revival. Its square tower being rebuilt in the fashionable Gothic style in 1782 and this drastic alteration probably aroused some controversy. Although the fine architectural drawing of the chapel made by Mr. Schnebbelie in 1790 prompted Nichols to assert that the new tower provides a good effect, St Marys was further redesigned in 1849 by Thomas Henry Wyatt and David Brandon. It is said that the Battle of Bosworth actually took place in the fields of Merevale above Atherstone, certainly reparation was made to Atherstone after the battle and not to Market Bosworth. In Tudor times, Atherstone was a commercial centre for weaving and clothmaking. The towns favourable location laid out as a long ‘ribbon development’ along Watling Street, by the late Tudor period Atherstone had become a centre for leatherworking, clothmaking, metalworking and brewing. They show Atherstone at this time as a typical Midlands market town, taking advantage of its location. Atherstone was once an important hatting town, and became known for its felt hats. The industry began in the 17th century and at its height there were seven firms employing 3,000 people, the production of felt hats in the town ceased altogether with the closure of the Wilson & Stafford factory in 1999. Atherstone is part of the constituency of North Warwickshire, with the current MP for the area being Conservatives Craig Tracey. The local authority is North Warwickshire Borough Council, which, since May 2015, has been under Conservative control, the town is situated 5.6 mi northwest of Nuneaton,5.6 mi southeast of Tamworth and 14 mi north of the nearest major city, Coventry. Atherstone is close to the River Anker which forms the boundary between Warwickshire and Leicestershire, witherley village is on the opposite bank of the river in Leicestershire, whilst the village of Mancetter is contiguous with Atherstone to the southeast

8.
Nuneaton
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Nuneaton /nəˈniːtən/ is a town in Warwickshire, England. The population in 2011 was 81,877, making it the largest town in Warwickshire, the author George Eliot was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for much of her early life. Her novel Scenes of Clerical Life depicts Nuneaton, the Nuneaton built-up area, incorporating Nuneaton and surrounding villages including Hartshill and Bulkington, had a population of 92,968 at the 2011 census. Nuneaton is 9 miles north of Coventry,20 miles east of Birmingham and 103 miles northwest of London, the River Anker runs through the town. Towns close to Nuneaton include Bedworth, Atherstone and Hinckley, with Tamworth and Lutterworth a little further afield, the town lies 3 miles from the Leicestershire border,8 miles from Staffordshire and 12 miles from Derbyshire. Nuneatons name came from a 12th century Benedictine nunnery around which much of the town grew, prior to this it was a settlement known as Etone, which translates literally as water-town. Nuneaton was listed in the Domesday Book as a small hamlet, a market was established in 1233, which is still held. The first recorded use of the name was in 1247 when a document recorded it as Nonne Eton. The nunnery fell into disrepair after 1539, with Henry VIIIs Dissolution of the Monasteries, king Edward VI School was established by a royal charter in 1552. From 1944 it became a school for boys and, although it was locally known as KEGS. In 1974 it became a sixth form college, the other grammar schools in Nuneaton in the 1944 to 1974 period were Nuneaton High School for Girls and Manor Park. Nicholas Chamberlaine School in Bedworth was a comprehensive school that had a grammar school stream. Nuneaton grew gradually from the 17th century onwards, due to its position at the centre of the Warwickshire coalfields, at the time of the first national census in 1801 Nuneaton was one of the largest towns in Warwickshire, with a population of 5,000. During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, Nuneaton developed a textile industry. Other industries which developed in the town included brick and tile making and brewing, by 1901 the population of Nuneaton had grown to 25,000. Nuneaton parish included the settlements of Attleborough and Stockingford, the parish was joined with Chilvers Coton parish in 1894 to form an urban district. Nuneaton was upgraded to the status of a borough in 1907. Due largely to munitions factories being located in Nuneaton, the town suffered heavy bombing damage during the Second World War, as a result of the bombing, much of the town centre was rebuilt in the post-war years

9.
Stephen Maguire
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Stephen Maguire is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has been a professional player since 1998, ranked in the top 16 consecutively for 11 years from 2005 to August 2016. He has won five ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship in 2004. As a prolific break-builder, Maguire has compiled more than 300 century breaks, Maguire began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. Maguire was the winner of the 2004 European Open. Ranked 41 in the world at the time, he well established top-16 player Jimmy White 9–3 in the final. The start of the 2004/2005 season saw Maguire establish himself as one of the games brightest talents and he performed well at the season opening Grand Prix, reaching the quarter-finals, and things improved further at the British Open in Brighton. Although Maguire lost the final 6–9 to his compatriot John Higgins, he more than made up for it at the next event, the UK Championship, snookers second biggest tournament. Maguire played some superb snooker on the way to the final, beating the likes of Mark King, Mark Davis, Stephen Lee, Ronnie OSullivan and Steve Davis. Davis described Maguire as inspired, while OSullivan was again rich in his praise for the youngster, in the final, Maguire blazed past David Gray with an emphatic 10–1 win. The rest of the season was an anti-climax of sorts however and he lost against defending champion Ronnie OSullivan 9–10 in their World Championship first-round match, despite having led 9–7, but he still moved up to #3 in the world rankings. In the 2005/2006 season, he reached one quarter-final, showing evidence of a loss in form. In 2007, he recorded his best run at the World Championship reaching the semi-final, Maguire again beat Shaun Murphy in the 2007 UK Championship semi-final 9–5 only to lose 2–10 against Ronnie OSullivan in the final. In the 2008 China Open, he compiled a 147 in narrowly beating his friend Ryan Day 6–5 in the semi-finals, before edging out Shaun Murphy once again in the final by 10 frames to 9. The 2008/2009 season he failed to win an event. His best runs were semi-final appearances in the Shanghai Masters and UK Championship, in the Shanghai Masters he lost narrowly 5–6 against Ronnie OSullivan and in the UK Championship 4–9 against Shaun Murphy. Maguire began the 2009/2010 season by winning the first event of the Pro Challenge Series beating Alan McManus 5–2 in the final, Maguire had to withdraw from the first ranking event, the Shanghai Masters, due to shoulder injury. In the Grand Prix he won his first ranking match of the season, defeating Nigel Bond 5–3, Maguires first event of 2010 was the Masters

10.
Steve Davis
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Steve Davis, OBE is an English former professional snooker player from Plumstead, London.5 million British viewers. He is a known public figure and is generally viewed by his peers as one of the greatest players of all time. In addition to his six titles, Daviss career achievements include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. He won a total of 28 ranking events and made over £5.6 million in prize money, Davis compiled more than 300 competitive century breaks, including the first officially recognised maximum break in professional competition, in 1982. During the 1987/1988 season, he became the first player to complete snookers Triple Crown by winning the UK Championship, Masters and his other accomplishments include winning the World Doubles Championship four times with Tony Meo and winning the World Team Classic/World Cup four times with England. Davis won his last world title in 1989, and captured his last major title when he won the 1997 Masters at the age of 39, but he continued to play snooker at a high level into his 50s. He reached the final of the 2005 UK Championship at the age of 48 and was ranked inside the top 16 when he turned 50 during the 2007/2008 season. He reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Championship at the age of 52 and he won the World Seniors Championship in 2013. On 17 April 2016, after failing to qualify for the 2016 World Snooker Championship, outside snooker, Davis has competed in pool tournaments, notably playing on Team Europe at the Mosconi Cup between 1994 and 2004, helping the team win the event in 1995 and 2002. He is also noted for his participation in events, having reached the final stages of several televised tournaments. Since 1996 he has been a broadcaster with Phoenix FM and an expert in the progressive rock genres of Zeuhl, RIO. A keen amateur chess player, he co-authored a chess book with grandmaster David Norwood and is a president of the British Chess Federation. He has also published books on snooker, including three autobiographies, one technical book and one comedy book called How To Be Really Interesting. He has appeared on a number of popular British TV shows and he was made an MBE in the 1988 Birthday Honours and an OBE in the 2000 New Year Honours. Davis was introduced to snooker by his father Bill, a player, who took him to play at his local working mens club at the age of 12. They studied the book and built Steve Daviss own technique on it in the 1970s, Hearn became Davis friend and manager. Paid £25 a match by Hearn, Davis toured the country, taking part in matches against established professionals such as Ray Reardon, John Spencer. Around this time he was given the nickname Nugget because, according to Hearn, you could put your case of money on him, Davis won the English Under-19 Billiards Championship in 1976

11.
John Higgins (snooker player)
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John Higgins, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In terms of titles in the modern era, Higgins is fifth behind Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Ray Reardon. His 28 career ranking titles, put him in joint second place with Davis and OSullivan, known as a prolific break-builder, he has compiled 664 century breaks in professional tournament play, placing him third behind OSullivan and Hendry. He has also compiled 8 competitive maximum breaks, placing him third behind OSullivan, for 16 consecutive full seasons from 1996/1997 to 2011/2012, Higgins never fell below 6th in the world rankings, and was world number 1 on four occasions. The WPBSA banned Higgins from professional competition for six months and fined him £75,000 and he returned to the tour midway through the 2010/2011 season. After his return to snooker, Higgins added a third UK Championship title and he subsequently experienced a noted slump in form, and between 2012 and 2014 only won the 2012 Shanghai Masters. He has spoken frequently in this period about his struggles with confidence, however, in 2015, Higgins returned to winning ways, capturing three ranking titles. Higgins turned professional in 1992 and reached the quarter-finals of the British Open during his first season on the professional tour. He rose to prominence in the 1994/1995 season when, at the age of 19, he won his first ranking tournament at the Grand Prix, by the end of the season, he had moved from 51st to 11th in the world rankings. By the end of the season, assisted by two more ranking titles and another ranking final, he had moved up to 2nd in the world. In the UK Championship final in 1996, he recovered from 4–8 down against Stephen Hendry to lead 9–8, only to lose 9–10. In 1998, Higgins won his first World Championship, beating Jason Ferguson, Anthony Hamilton, John Parrott and Ronnie OSullivan and he made a then-record 14 centuries in the tournament. After winning the title, Higgins became world number 1 for the first time in his career. Higgins remained as World no.1 for two years, when Mark Williams replaced him at the top of the rankings at the close of the 1999/00 season and he reached the World Championship final in 2001, but lost 14–18 to Ronnie OSullivan. At the beginning of the 2001/02 season, Higgins became the first player to win the three tournaments of a season, the Champions Cup, Scottish Masters, and the British Open. Higgins then failed to win a title until his fourth British Open triumph in 2004. In the Grand Prix final in 2005, Higgins beat Ronnie OSullivan 9–2, in doing so, he became the first player to record four consecutive centuries in a ranking tournament, with breaks of 103,104,138 and 128 in frames 7 to 10. Higgins scored 494 points without reply, which was then a record, Higgins and OSullivan also contested the Masters finals in 2005 and 2006

12.
Jimmy White
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James Warren Jimmy White, MBE is an English professional snooker player. Whites non-world championship achievements include the UK Championship, the Masters, a two-time winner of both the World Cup and the British Open, White was also the first left-handed player, and second player overall, to record a maximum break at the World Championship. White was born in Streathbourne Road, Tooting, London, England and he never achieved academic success, as he was often truant from school from the age of eight or nine, spending more and more time at Zans, Ted Zanoncellis snooker hall. The club was known as Zans and after Teds death in 1978 it was handed down to his daughter. It was around this time that White met Tony Meo with whom he would compete in matches in many venues. His natural aptitude for snooker led to an amateur career. With a host of major titles and achievements, including ten ranking tournaments, the BBC describes him as a legend. A left-hander, he reached the World Professional Championship Final on six occasions, nonetheless, his consistency waned in the 2000s and a first-round defeat in the 2006 World Championship saw White drop out of the worlds top 32 player rankings. Whites continued slide down the rankings saw him drop to 65th, White is one of only six players to have completed a maximum break at the Crucible Theatre, doing so in the 1992 World Snooker Championship. He has compiled more than 300 century breaks during his career, White established himself as a top professional in 1981. The World Championship has provided the theatre for Whites greatest disappointments, in 1982, he led Alex Higgins 15–14 in their semi-final, was up 59–0 in the penultimate frame and was a red and colour away from the final. After missing a red with the rest, however, he could watch as Higgins compiled a frame-winning 69 break. Higgins won the frame that followed to reach the final. In 1984 White won the Masters for the time to date. He followed this success by reaching his first World Championship final, trailing Steve Davis 4–12 after the first two sessions, White responded by reducing the deficit to 15–16. He then made a clearance of 65 to take the score to 16–17, but was unable to build upon a 40-point lead in the following frame. White did, however, become a World Doubles Champion later that year when he and Alex Higgins defeated Willie Thorne, in 1986 White reached his second Masters final, but was defeated by Cliff Thorburn. However he won the Classic and also retained the Irish Masters title he won in 1985, White won the Classic when he beat Thorburn in the final frame after needing a snooker

13.
Fergal O'Brien
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Fergal OBrien is an Irish professional snooker player. A member of snookers main tour since turning professional in 1991, OBrien has been ranked within the worlds top 64 players since 1994, reaching his highest position, 9th, for the 2000/2001 season. He has won one ranking title - the 1999 British Open, OBrien is the only player to score a century in his first frame at the World Championships in the Crucible, which he achieved against Alan McManus in 1994. His greatest achievement was winning the British Open in 1999, beating Anthony Hamilton 9–7 in the final, Hamilton opened with two centuries, but OBrien won five frames on the final black to defeat the Nottingham man. OBrien also came close to winning the Masters title in 2001, after beating Mark Williams, Ken Doherty and Dave Harold, he lost in the final to Paul Hunter after leading 7–3. He has reached one further ranking final, and three semi-finals OBrien peaked at No.9 in the following his sole title. He narrowly retained his top 16 place for the 2001/2002 season, three further falls down the rankings left him at No. OBriens best run at the World Championship is the quarter-final and 2005 he became the first player to beat John Parrott in a World Championship qualifier. OBrien started the 2007/2008 campaign in Shanghai where he had beaten Paul Davies and Barry Hawkins in qualifying rounds, however, OBrien also qualified for the Grand Prix but lost four of his group matches to finish 5th in his group ahead of only Graeme Dott. After qualifying for the draw of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy by beating Barry Pinches in a deciding frame. Victories over John Higgins, Barry Hawkins and Ronnie OSullivan, before he reached the second ranking-event final of his career by beating Mark Allen by 6 frames to 3 and he lost the final to Stephen Maguire, 5–9. As of the end of 2009 OBrien had compiled 101 competitive century breaks in his career and he qualified for the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Finals held in Galway but lost his Last 24 match 0–4 to Joe Perry

14.
Stephen Hendry
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Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish former professional snooker player. Hendry became the youngest professional player in 1985 aged 16 and, in 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion. He won the World Championship seven times, a record in the modern era, Hendry has the distinction of winning the most world ranking titles and is second on the century break list behind Ronnie OSullivan with 775 competitive century breaks. He has made 11 competitive maximum breaks, second only to OSullivan with 13, Hendry started playing snooker in 1981, aged 12, when his father, Gordon, bought him a child-sized snooker table as a Christmas present. Two years later he won the Scottish U-16 Championship and he also appeared on BBCs Junior version of Pot Black. The following year he won the Scottish Amateur Championship and also became the youngest ever entrant in the World Amateur Championship, in 1985, after retaining the Scottish Amateur Championship, he turned professional. At 16 years and three months old he was the youngest ever professional, Hendry was managed by entrepreneur Ian Doyle. In his first season, he reached the last 32 in the Mercantile Credit Classic and was the youngest ever Scottish Professional champion. He also became the youngest player ever to qualify for the World Championship and he lost 8–10 to Willie Thorne who then applauded him out of the arena. Hendry and Mike Hallett combined to win that years World Doubles Championship, in 1987/88 Hendry won his first world ranking titles, the Grand Prix, beating Dennis Taylor 10–7 in the final, and the British Open. He also claimed three other tournament victories, retaining both the Scottish Professional Championship and the World Doubles Championship, and the Australian Masters, by the end of that season he was ranked world no.4 and was voted the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year. No ranking titles came his way the following season, although he did win the New Zealand Masters, the 1989/90 season saw the beginning of Hendrys period of dominance. The following season, he set a record of five ranking titles in one season and recorded a hat-trick of Masters, beating Mike Hallett 9–8 after coming back from 0–7. However, Hendry failed to retain his title, losing to Steve James in the quarter-finals. In 1991/92, Hendry regained the World title, winning 10 frames in a row to come from 8–14 down to defeat White 18–14 and he won the Masters, too, and achieved his first competitive 147 break, in the Matchroom League. A year later, he retained both his World Championship title and a fifth consecutive Masters crown, the following season, he retained the World Championship, narrowly beating Jimmy White 18–17 in the final. Also in 1997, Stephen Hendry played Ronnie OSullivan in the Liverpool Victoria charity challenge final, the match was best of 17 frames. Stephen raced into a 6-1 and 8-2 lead with breaks of 110,129 and 136, Ronnie won the next 6 frames to level the match at 8-8

15.
Ricky Walden
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Ricky Walden is an English professional snooker player from Bagillt. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters and he has since won the 2012 Wuxi Classic and the 2014 International Championship and has been inside the top 16 in the season-ending rankings on four occasions. Walden has reached the stages of the World Snooker Championship on five occasions with his best result being a semi-finalist in 2013. Walden was born in Chester but raised in Bagillt, north Wales and he was one of the Young Players of Distinction in a scheme run in 2000, designed to help young players develop their playing and media skills, alongside Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and Ali Carter. In 2001 he won the World Under-21 Championship, Walden began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1999, at the time the second-level professional tour. Then he played Challenge Tour in 2001 and entered Main Tour and he started the 2004/2005 season ranked at number 78 in the world, but climbed 30 places that year. He beat John Higgins twice that season, at the Grand Prix and UK Championship, in 2005/2006 his best run was to the last 16 in the China Open, which he achieved by beating Stephen Maguire. In 2006/2007 he had 2 last-32 appearance including the UK Championship and he lost to eventual finalist Mark Selby in qualifying for the World Championship. He reached #36 for the 2007/2008 season and the year he reached the last 16 of the Grand Prix, beating John Parrott in qualifying. He crashed out in the China Open to Mark Selby and in the qualifying for the World Championship, in the 2008 Shanghai Masters he defeated Lee Spick and Ian McCulloch to qualify. At the venue he defeated wildcard Zhang Anda, Stephen Hendry, Neil Robertson, Steve Davis in the quarter-finals and he won his first ranking title by beating Ronnie OSullivan 10–8 in the final. The rest of the season was rather than spectacular, but a qualifying victory over Anthony Hamilton earned him a first appearance at the Crucible Theatre. In 2008 he also won the Six-red Snooker International, beating Stuart Bingham 8–3 in the final, Walden made it to the World Championship for the second time in 2011 as a seeded player, but was beaten by qualifier Rory McLeod 10–6. After the match, Walden criticised McLeod for what he considered to be a slow and boring style of play, McLeod responded to the criticism by arguing that Walden was more responsible for the pace of the match. Walden started the 2011/2012 season slowly, by losing in qualifying for the first two ranking events of the year, however, he qualified for the UK Championship by defeating Jamie Jones 6–2. In the main draw he beat Stephen Lee, Mark Williams, after the first session of the best-of 17-frames match Walden held a 5–3 advantage. However, upon resumption in the evening he lost the four frames. This was Waldens first semi-final in an event based in Britain

16.
Shaun Murphy (snooker player)
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Shaun Murphy is an English professional snooker player, who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed The Magician, Murphy is noted for his cue action. Born in Harlow and raised in Irthlingborough, Murphy turned professional in 1998 and his victory at the World Championship was considered a major surprise as he was only the third qualifier to lift the title. He has also won seven non-ranking tournaments, including the 2015 Masters, Murphy has won over £3 million in prize money and has compiled more than 400 century breaks in his professional career. His highest world ranking was number three, which he maintained for three seasons following 2007/2008, and he is ranked number four. Born in Harlow, England, Murphy began playing snooker at the age of eight after his parents bought him a table for Christmas. He made his first century break at the age of 10 and practised at the Rushden Snooker Centre, where such as Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams. At the age of 13, he secured a five-year £5, 000-a-year sponsorship deal with the Doc Martens shoe company and stated his ambitions of winning the World Championship and he turned professional in 1998 at the age of 15. Murphy was coached by Steve Prest until the 2006/2007 season, willie Thorne and Ray Reardon also gave him guidance, and when he was 15, he was given the latters old cue by his father. Murphy began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the professional tour. He was runner-up in the event on the UK tour for the 1997/1998 season and, for the 2000/2001 season, won the third and fourth events on the Challenge Tour. In 2000, he received the World Snooker Newcomer of the Year award and one of six Young Player of Distinction of the Year awards from the World Professional Billiards, in 2000, he won the English Open Championship. Murphy won his first professional tournament at the 2000 Benson & Hedges Championship, defeating Mark Davis 6–1 in the semi-final, and Stuart Bingham 9–7 in the final, recovering from 2–5 down. In the 2001 tournament, he showed promise in his first televised match, defeating world number 15, Marco Fu and he made his first maximum break in the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship. Murphy first reached the stages of a ranking event at the 2002 World Championship, hosted at the Crucible Theatre. For the 2003/2004 season, Murphy was ranked number 64 and qualified for the stages of three ranking tournaments. In the LG Cup, Murphy defeated Steve Davis 5–4 in the second round, after the victory over Davis, Murphy said This is one of the greatest days in my snooker career. In the British Open, he defeated Dave Harold 5–1 in the first round, in the Players Championship—the new name of the Scottish Open—he lost 3–5 to eventual champion Jimmy White in the second round

17.
UK Championship (snooker)
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The UK Championship, known as the Betway UK Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional mens ranking snooker tournament. It is the second biggest-ranking tournament, after the World Championship and is one of the Triple Crown events, Mark Selby is the reigning champion. The UK Championship was first held in 1977 in Tower Circus, Blackpool as the United Kingdom Professional Snooker Championship, Patsy Fagan won the inaugural tournament by defeating Doug Mountjoy by 12 frames to 9 in the final and won the first prize of £2000. The following year the event moved to the Guild Hall, Preston, the rules were changed in 1984 when the tournament was granted ranking status and all professionals were allowed to enter. Since then, it has carried more ranking points than any tournament other than the World Championship, the tournament has seen many memorable finals. In 1977 and 1979, it provided Patsy Fagan and John Virgo with their first, in 1980, it was Steve Daviss first of his 73 professional tournament wins. In 1983, Alex Higgins beat Davis 16–15 after having trailed 7–0 at the end of the first session, in 1985, Willie Thorne led Davis 13–10 at the start of the evening session, only to miss a simple blue off its spot and lose 16–14. The victory regenerated Daviss confidence after his devastating World Championship loss, Thorne, on the other hand, hendrys 16–15 win the following year, over Davis again, spoke to his unique qualities of nerve. Doherty has appeared in two memorable finals. In 1993, Ronnie OSullivan became the winner of the tournament aged just 17. Eight years later, in 2001, he delivered the finals best winning margin since it had become the best of 19 frames in the 1993 tournament, three years later, in 2004, Stephen Maguire repeated the feat against David Gray. Doherty almost won the tournament in the 2002 final against Mark Williams, the 2005 tournament saw Davis, aged 48, reached his first ranking tournament final for almost two years and make his highest break in tournament play for 23 years. In a match featured the widest age gap between finalists in professional tournament history, he lost 6–10 to the 18-year-old Ding Junhui. The following year, Peter Ebdon won the title and, in doing so, became the first, the event offered £500,000 prize money, with the winner receiving £70,000. In 2007, the tournament was won by Ronnie OSullivan for the time, again with some ease. The tournament was notable for the longest televised frame between Marco Fu and Mark Selby and Ronnie OSullivans maximum 147 break in the deciding frame of the semi-final. The 2009 final saw the world champion John Higgins lose to Ding Junhui, after he missed the brown. The 2010 final turned out to be another dramatic match, instantly described by commentators as an all-time classic

18.
2011 UK Championship (snooker)
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The 2011 williamhill. com UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 3–11 December 2011 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. This was the first time that William Hill sponsored the event, john Higgins was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 4–6 against Stephen Maguire. Judd Trump won his second ranking title by defeating Mark Allen 10–8 in the final, the breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below, The format of the 2011 UK Championship was changed from previous editions. All rounds up to the semi-finals were played over the best of 11 frames instead of the best of 17 frames, the semi-finals and the final were played over the best of 17 and best of 19 frames respectively. The changes allowed for every match in the rounds to be played in front of television cameras. During the same interview Allen aimed a four lettered expletive at Hearn, Allen was later charged by World Snooker for bringing the game into disrepute. Hearn, following the comments by Allen, called him a silly little boy. Allen and Hearn later sat down and had a discussion, which resolved their differences and these matches were held between 5 and 9 November 2011 at the South West Snooker Academy, Gloucester, England. Preliminary round Best of 11 frames Round 1–4 Official website UK Championship Qualifiers 2011, Picture Perfect at Pro Snooker Blog

19.
Mark King (snooker player)
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Mark King is an English professional snooker player. He has also appeared in two ranking tournament finals - the 1997 Welsh Open, where he lost 2–9 to Stephen Hendry, and the 2004 Irish Masters. King has reached the last 16 of the World Championship seven times, in 1998,1999,2001,2002,2008,2009 and 2013, King turned professional in 1991 and advanced steadily through the rankings, reaching the top 48 by 1996. His 1997 Welsh Open final run lead to a top 32 place in the end of season rankings and he remained in the top 16 the following season without reaching a ranking quarter-final, but dropped out a year later. He made a return in 2000/2001, climbing to a career-high of #11. A poor 2002/2003 season ended with him dropping out of the top 16 again after defeat to Drew Henry 10–5 in the first round of the World Championship. In the post-match interview, King suggested that he had lost patience with the game, King later retracted this statement and began the following season in the qualifiers. After the 2004 World Championship, King became involved in a battle with Quinten Hann after his friend Andy Hicks eliminated Hann in a controversial first-round clash. Hann had been making provocative gestures during the match and after Hicks took victory, upset by Hanns behaviour, King challenged the Australian to a boxing match, for which King was later criticised, as Hanns behaviour had already put the game into disrepute. Nevertheless, the bout went ahead and Hann controversially won the fight on a points decision, in December 2004, King beat Mark Williams, Alan McManus and John Parrott en route to the semi-finals of the UK Championship, losing 9–4 to eventual winner Stephen Maguire. At 8–3, a mobile phone went off in the crowd, prompting King to quip if thats my missus, tell her Ill be home soon. In 2005, King beat Ronnie OSullivan 9–8 at the same event, King would eventually lose 9–6 in the last 16 to Joe Perry, but made a career best 146 break at the 2006 Championships. In 2007, King went out to David Gilbert in the round for the event. In the 2008 World Championship, King beat six-times runner-up Jimmy White to qualify, then shocked the previous years runner-up Mark Selby 10–8, after potting the match ball, King showed his delight by shouting Get in. He lost to Peter Ebdon in the last 16, but his place was secure. A consistent 2008/2009 season saw King retain his top 16 spot, at the 2009 Grand Prix King needed three snookers in the deciding frame against Ricky Walden to claim a 5–4 victory. He managed to get them and won by potting the final black, in the next round he lost to Robert Milkins. At the 2010 China Open King defeated Thai player James Wattana 5–4 in the first round after trailing 2–4 and he then won his second match 5–3 against Chinese player Tian Pengfei to reach his first Quarter final since the 2007 Malta Cup

20.
Graeme Dott
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Graeme Dott is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001 and he has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship and the 2007 China Open, and was runner-up in the World Championships of 2004 and 2010. He reached number 2 in the rankings in 2007, but a subsequent episode of clinical depression seriously affected his form. He then recovered his form, regained his ranking. In 2011, he published his autobiography, Frame of Mind, after winning the UK Under-19 Championship in 1992 and Scottish Amateur Championship in 1993, Dott turned professional in 1994. He slowly climbed the rankings, reaching the top sixteen in 2001, early successes included reaching the quarter-final of the 1996 Welsh Open and qualifying for the World Championship for the first time in 1997. Dott was a runner-up in the 1999 Scottish Open, the 2001 British Open, the 2004 World Championship and he scored his only competitive 147 break in the 1999 British Open. Dott started his campaign with an easy 10–3 victory over former champion John Parrott and his quarter-final match was against Australias Neil Robertson, and after leading 12–8, he was pegged back to 12–12, before edging through the deciding frame, winning the tie 13–12. In the semi-finals he faced former two-time champion Ronnie OSullivan in a rematch of the 2004 final, at 8–8 after the second session of four sessions, OSullivan failed to win a single frame in the third session and Dott dominated play to win easily 17–11. Dott faced Peter Ebdon in the final for the £200,000 prize and he began the last session of the match leading 15–7, but Ebdon won six successive frames to reduce his deficit to two frames. Dott eventually won by 18 frames to 14, after winning some vital frames with marvellous clearances and it was the longest final ever and was, at the time, the latest to finish. The previous record holder was the final frame last black ball finish 1985 final between Englishman Steve Davis and Northern Irishman Dennis Taylor, which finished at 12,19 a. m. The Dott-Ebdon match finished half an hour later, this despite featuring three fewer frames, reflecting the overall pace of the match. The average frame length was such that both afternoon sessions only had six frames, instead of the usual eight, the victory over Ebdon took his ranking up to number 6 for 2006/07 season, a career high at the time. Dott shone in the 2006 UK Championship as well, reaching the semi-finals, Dott briefly became the provisional world number one in the rankings system after overcoming Jamie Cope 9–5 to win the 2007 China Open, his second ranking tournament win. Prior to this, he disliked going to China, not helped by a match in 2002. Newly crowned world champion John Higgins overtook him, the loss against McCulloch also maintained the Crucible Curse, as Dott became the seventeenth consecutive first-time champion to lose his title the very next year. The 2007/2008 season was more of a struggle for Dott, who described his form as hopeless

21.
2012 Australian Goldfields Open
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The 2012 Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 9–15 July 2012 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia. It was the ranking event of the 2012/2013 season. Stuart Bingham was the champion, but he lost in the first round 4–5 against Matthew Selt. Barry Hawkins won his first ranking title by defeating Peter Ebdon 9–3 in the final, the breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below, These matches were played in Bendigo on 9 July. These matches were held between 12 and 15 June 2012 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England, official website Australian Goldfields Open 2012 picture gallery at Facebook

22.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
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Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is a professional snooker player from Thailand. Un-Nooh first entered the tour for the 2009/10 season by winning the 2008 IBSF World Snooker Championship. He dropped off the tour after just one season. He received the Thai nomination to compete on the tour for the 2012/2013 season. As a new player on the tour he needed to win four matches to reach the stage of the ranking events. Un-Nooh lost in the qualifying round in three of the first four ranking of the season. In September, it was announced that his match at the Players Tour Championship – Event 3 against Steve Davis was under investigation due to unusual betting patterns. Un-Nooh moved from an 8/11 odds-on favourite to 11/8 against just before the match started, in November, World Snooker released a statement to confirm that there was insufficient evidence and no further action would be taken against Un-Nooh. He reached the qualifying round for the UK Championship and the World Open. Un-Nooh played in nine of the ten Players Tour Championship Events during the season and his season ended when he was beaten 3–10 by Ben Woollaston in the third round of World Championship Qualifying, which saw him finish the year ranked world number 69. Un-Nooh lost in the rounds for the first four ranking events of the 2013/2014 season. In his first appearance in the draw of a ranking event he thrashed Zhang Anda 6–1. However, the experience seemed to kick start Un-Noohs season as in 2014 he played at the stage of four of the remaining six ranking events. At the World Open, Un-Nooh led Stephen Maguire 3–0, before the number eight rallied to win four frames in a row. The match went into a frame in which Un-Nooh made a break of sixty only for Maguire to get a chance to win. He then reached the last 16 of an event for the first time by beating Andrew Higginson 5–1 and lost 5–2 to Graeme Dott. Un-Nooh advanced to the last 32 of the China Open by whitewashing 1997 world champion Ken Doherty 5–0 and his performances during the campaign saw him end it in the top 64 in the world rankings for the first time as he was placed 59th. Un-Nooh qualified for the International Championship for the year in a row

23.
Jamie Jones (snooker player)
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Jamie Jones is a Welsh professional snooker player, from Neath. He was the youngest ever player, at age 14, to make a maximum 147 break in competition, at the 2012 World Snooker Championship he reached his first ranking quarter-final. In 2002, he became the player to make a 147 in an official event, making it aged 14. Jones began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2004. He qualified for the Main Tour for 2006/2007 by finishing top of the 2005/06 Welsh rankings and his best result in his first season as a professional was to the last 48 of the Royal London Watches Grand Prix. After another spell on the tour in 2008/2009, in which, despite strong performances, he again fell away. He started the new season by winning three qualifying matches in the Shanghai Masters, beating Kuldesh Johal, Jimmy Michie and Adrian Gunnell before losing to Stephen Lee. After reaching the final of Players Tour Championship – Event 5, Jones made it to the quarter-finals of three Players Tour Championship events, but failed to progress further in any of them. This set up a match with Andrew Higginson, which he lost 3–4, Jones won two qualifying matches to reach the China Open, but lost 3–5 to Lu Ning in the wildcard round. Jones finished the season by qualifying for the 2012 World Championship and he then beat Shaun Murphy 10–8 in the first round, scoring two centuries. In the second round he beat Andrew Higginson 13–10, included a 135 break in the penultimate frame, Jones made seven centuries during the tournament, with only eventual winner Ronnie OSullivan making more. Jones finished the season ranked a career high world number 29, following his superb run in last seasons World Championship, Jones endured a difficult 2012/2013 season. He could only win three matches in ranking event qualifiers all year, with his appearance in the main draw coming at the Shanghai Masters. He beat Jimmy White in qualifying and Lu Ning in the wildcard round and he finished 67th on the PTC Order of Merit. Jones could not repeat last seasons run to The Crucible as he was beaten 9–10 by Liam Highfield in the round of World Championship Qualifying. His disappointing year was reflected in the rankings as he dropped 11 places to world number 40. Jones reached the first round of the 2013 Wuxi Classic, and he qualified for five more ranking events but was beaten in the opening round of each. He had a good year in the eight minor-ranking European Tour events

24.
Stuart Bingham
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Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player and a former World Snooker Champion. As an amateur, he won the 1996 IBSF World Snooker Championship and he first entered the top 32 in the world rankings for the 2006/2007 season, and first reached the top 16 during the 2011/2012 season. Bingham won the first ranking title of his career at the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open and he followed this by winning the World Championship in 2015, which British media said completed an astonishing transition from journeyman to king of the Crucible. With that, he joined Ken Doherty as the players to have won world titles at both amateur and professional levels. He claimed a ranking title by winning the 2017 Welsh Open. Bingham has also been runner-up in three ranking events, the 2012 Wuxi Classic, the 2013 Welsh Open, and the 2016 World Grand Prix. He has also won the non-ranking 2012 Premier League Snooker and the 2015 Championship League, a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 300 century breaks during his career, including three maximum breaks. He also qualified for the tournament in 2002 by beating Nigel Bond, Bingham played Ken Doherty in the first round and almost made the fifth 147 break at the Crucible, but missed the final pink in an attempt that would have been worth £167,000. He went on to lose the match 8–10, in the 2004/2005 season his best runs were two last-sixteen runs in ranking events, including losing in a final frame decider to Ding Junhui in the China Open. In 2005/2006, he had one of his most consistent seasons and he reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix tournament, beating then world champion Shaun Murphy along the way. He got to the stage of the UK Championship, losing in a final frame decider to Joe Perry. He also won the tournament for the Masters, scoring a 147 break along the way. He then beat Steve Davis in the round, before losing to Peter Ebdon 4–6. He made a start to the 2007/08 season, reaching the quarter finals of the Shanghai Masters. After finishing 4th in his group in the Grand Prix he then lost his first match in the Northern Ireland Trophy, in the Maplin UK Championship he managed to reach the last 16, losing to Shaun Murphy 9–3, after victories over Fergal OBrien and Steve Davis again. He also reached the stage of the Welsh Open, beating Stephen Maguire 5–4, after being 3–0 down, in the last 32. 2008/2009 was a disappointment for Bingham, who lost his first match in four of the eight events. He was drawn against number 1 Ronnie OSullivan in the first round of the 2009 World Championship, Bingham reached the Quarter final stages of the 2010 UK Championship having defeated OSullivan 9–6 and then Marco Fu 9–2 in previous rounds before losing 9–7 to Northern Irelands Mark Allen

25.
Ryan Day
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Ryan Day is a Welsh professional snooker player. As a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 250 century breaks during his career, Day was born in Pontycymer, Bridgend, and began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He is named Young Player of Distinction of the season 2000/2001 by the World Professional Billiards and he won the 2001 Benson & Hedges Championship. With this win, he qualified for the 2002 Masters, where he defeated Dave Harold and he also won the WPBSA Challenge Tour in the 2001/2002 season and was named WPBSA Newcomer of the Year in 2002. Due to problems with his liver in 2003, his results suffered badly, Higgins went on to win the frame and the next two for the match. As some consolation, Higgins commented that Day was going to be a top player for years to come. Day reached the quarter-finals of his tournament, the 2005 Welsh Open defeating Allister Carter. He finished this season ranked 33, but as Quinten Hann did not participate in any events, Day was always among the top 32 seeds, meaning one less qualifying match than he would otherwise have faced. Back at the Crucible in 2006, he beat Joe Perry 10–3 in the first round and he narrowly missed reaching the top 16 of the rankings as a result. The 2006/2007 season was the most successful of his career to date, Day reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy and was runner up in the 2007 Malta Cup, losing 4–9 to Shaun Murphy. That years performance saw him ranked 16 in the world for the 2007/2008 season, as a member of the Top 16, he automatically qualified for tournaments. His consistent performances took him up to 8th place in the rankings, Day reached the final of the 2008 Grand Prix where he lost to John Higgins, defeating Ricky Walden, Mark Selby, Jamie Cope and Ali Carter. The year ended on a note when he lost in the first round at the UK Championship to Matthew Stevens. He again reached the World Championship quarter-finals in 2009, before losing 11–13 to Mark Allen, however, he continued to move up the rankings, climbing 2 places to number 6, the highest ranked player not to have won a ranking event. A disappointing 2009/2010 season in which he reached only one quarter-final and this continued into the next season where he made a number of early exits which meant that at the first revision under the new ranking system he dropped out the top 16, down to number 20. Day qualified for five of the eight ranking tournaments during the 2011/2012 season and his best performance came at the end of the season in the biggest event on the tournament calendar, the World Championship. He came back from 3–7 down in his match against Gerard Greene to win 10–8, to set up a first round match with Chinas number 1. Day produced another comeback, this time from trailing 6–9 to win the last 4 frames, there he beat fellow qualifier Cao Yupeng 13–7 and held a 5–2 lead in the early stages of his quarter-final match against compatriot Matthew Stevens

26.
Barry Hawkins
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Barry Hawkins is an English professional snooker player from Ditton in Kent. He has now spent twelve successive seasons ranked inside the top 32 and he reached his first ranking final and won his first ranking title at the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open. Hawkins has played in the stages of every World Championship since he made his Crucible Theatre debut in 2006. He lost in the first round on his first five appearances, Hawkins has since reached the semi-finals the following two years running. Before taking up snooker professionally he was an office clerk and he reached the Top 32 in the rankings in 2004/2005, having reached the semi-finals of 2005s Welsh Open, as well as the last sixteen of three other tournaments. In 2005/2006, he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open again and this cemented Hawkins place in the Top 16 of the rankings for the 2006/2007 season. At the World Championship in Sheffield, however, Hawkins faced former Champion Ken Doherty in the first round and he told the BBC that I just couldnt perform and I dont know why. Im gutted after such a season to have performed like that. The 2006/2007 season saw Hawkins disappointed following two strong seasons and he had one foot in his first final against Jamie Cope in the semi final, but Cope was able to obtain the snookers he needed to stay in the match and went on to win 6–5. A first-round defeat by Fergal OBrien at the World Championship cost him his Top 16 place, early in the 2007/2008 season, Hawkins won the qualifying tournament for the 2008 SAGA Insurance Masters, beating Kurt Maflin. He won five matches, also beating top-32 players Nigel Bond. He also reached the last 16 at the Grand Prix, UK Championship and he then won at least his opening match in the next four ranking events, reaching the provisional top 16. From 2006–2010, Hawkinss record at the World Championship was unsuccessful, as well as the aforementioned one-sided defeat by Doherty, Hawkins narrowly lost in the first round the following two years as well, to Fergal OBrien and Ali Carter respectively. Coincidentally, on both occasions Hawkins lost by very close 10–9 defeats, having recovered from 9–6 behind each time, in 2009 Hawkins missed out on a chance to take his match with former champion Graeme Dott to a deciding frame, and lost 10–8. The following year, Hawkins led defending champion John Higgins 5–3 before Higgins won seven of the eight frames to progress. Hawkins played well at the World Open in defeating Mark Selby as well as former World Champion Ken Doherty before losing 3–2 to Mark Williams, Hawkins qualified for the World Championship for the sixth year running, where he was drawn against Stephen Maguire in the first round. Having never won a match at the Crucible before, Hawkins led Maguire 4–0, 5–1, 6–2 and 8–4 before seeing Maguire level the match at 8–8, however, Hawkins held his nerve in the deciding frame to finally end his losing run at the World Championship. In the second round, Hawkins was defeated 13–12 by world No.11 Mark Allen, Hawkins reached the PTC Finals in the 2011/2012 season largely thanks to semi-final runs in Event 3 and Event 5

27.
2013 World Snooker Championship
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The 2013 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2013 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 37th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible and was the last ranking event of the 2012/2013 season, the event was sponsored by Betfair for the first time. Despite having played one competitive match all season, defending champion Ronnie OSullivan did not lose a session in the tournament. He defeated Barry Hawkins 18–12 in the final to become a five-time World Champion, joining Steve Davis and he broke Hendrys record of 127 career Crucible centuries, finishing the tournament with 131. He also became the first player to make six century breaks in a World Championship final, the tournament was sponsored by online betting exchange Betfair. On 26 April 2013, the first Ladies Day was held at the Crucible, with events designed to promote the sport to girls, debutants at the Crucible were Jack Lisowski, Michael White, Ben Woollaston, Dechawat Poomjaeng, Matthew Selt and Sam Baird. White advanced to the round by beating Mark Williams 10–6. Poomjaeng advanced by beating Stephen Maguire 10–9 in the only match that went to a deciding frame. After a record four Chinese players reached the Crucible in 2012, Poomjaeng became only the third Thai player, after James Wattana and Tai Pichit, to reach the Crucible. By qualifying for the event, Peter Ebdon played in his 22nd consecutive World Championship and they are second behind the record of 27 set by Stephen Hendry. With the match also unavailable on the BBC Red Button service, the CEO of World Snooker, Barry Hearn, apologised to fans on Twitter. The second session of the first round match between Ebdon and Graeme Dott had to be pulled off, with Dott leading 8–6. Following Dotts 10–6 victory, he criticised Ebdon for his slow play. The match between Poomjaeng and Maguire also had to be finished off in a session, with Poomjaeng leading 9–8 when the end was postponed. Dotts second round defeat to Shaun Murphy meant there were no Scottish players in the last eight for the first time since 1988, White reached his first ranking event quarter-final by defeating Poomjaeng 13–3 with a session to spare. Poomjaeng lost the fourth frame of the match after three failed attempts to hit visible red balls whilst using the spider to bridge over the blue, ricky Walden reached his first Crucible quarter-final by defeating Robert Milkins 13–11. Milkins trailed 3–9, but fought back to 10–11 and 11–12, Barry Hawkins also reached his first Crucible quarter-final after defeating world number one Mark Selby 13–10. In the quarter-finals, OSullivan took 12 of the first 13 frames against Stuart Bingham, judd Trump battled back from 3–8 behind against Murphy to win 13–12 after a dramatic 53-minute deciding frame

28.
Ken Doherty
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Ken Doherty is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and this made him the first, and so far one of only two players to have been world amateur and professional champion. The following year, he came close to breaking the crucible curse. In 2003 he reached a final, where he was defeated by Mark Williams. In other triple crown events, he is a three-time UK Championship runner-up, an intelligent tactician and prolific break-builder, Doherty has compiled more than 300 century breaks in professional competition. From 2009 onwards he has combined his career with commentating. After two semi-finals in the 1991/92 season, Doherty reached the final of the 1992 Grand Prix, in the same event a year later, he lost 6–9 to Peter Ebdon. His first ranking title was the 1993 Welsh Open, enough to him into the top 16 in the world. In the 1994 World Championship he reached the quarter-finals, his run past the first round before 1997. Doherty became only the player from outside the United Kingdom to win the World Championship when he beat Stephen Hendry 18–12 in the 1997 final. Ken also reached the World Championship final in 1998 and in 2003, in that championship he played more frames than anyone before or since. In the final, Williams led 11–4 but Doherty fought back to 12–12, in frame 33, Doherty missed the 2nd to final red with a clearance there for the taking. Williams won that frame and the next to prevail 18–16. He is one of the few players to win back-to-back ranking events – the Welsh Open and Thailand Masters in 2001 and this one pot would have seen him win an £80,000 sports car. However, at 140 he did at least have the consolation of the £19,000 highest break prize. In the 2005 World Championship, Doherty beat Barry Pinches in the first round 10–5, winning the last 8 frames, following an average start to the 2005/06 season, Doherty won the Malta Cup in February 2006, beating John Higgins in the final. Doherty had trailed 8–5 at one stage but managed a stirring comeback, Doherty called the victory, which bridged a five-year gap, his most important tournament win since the World Championship. In the 2006 World Championship, Doherty started brightly winning his first match and defeated Barry Hawkins 10–1 and then he beat Matthew Stevens 13–8 and he was favourite in his quarter-final match against Marco Fu but lost 13–10

29.
Crucible Theatre
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The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as performances, it hosts the most prestigious event in professional snooker. The Crucible Theatre was built by M J Gleeson and opened in 1971, in 1967 Colin George, the founding Artistic Director of the Crucible, recommended a thrust stage for Sheffield, inspired by theatres created by Sir Tyrone Guthrie. Tanya Moiseiwitsch, who had involved in designing Guthrie’s theatres, was the designer. The architects Renton Howard Wood Levin Architects were engaged and the building began to take shape in 1969. The audience sits on three sides but no member is more than the length of a cricket wicket –22 yards – from the performer, consequently, although it seats 980 people the spectator has an intimate relationship with the activity on stage. In 2001, the Crucible was awarded the Barclays ‘Theatre of the Year Award’ and it is a Grade II listed building. The building went through a £15 million refurbishment between 2007 and late 2009 – opening during that period only for the 2008 and 2009 World Snooker Championships. The Crucible reopened as a theatre on 11 February 2010 with a production of Henrik Ibsens An Enemy of the People, the Crucible is a producing theatre, meaning shows are designed and rehearsed in-house. These productions are normally overseen by the Sheffield Theatres Group, the World Snooker Championship tournament has been played annually in the Crucible since 1977. The Ladies World Snooker Championship was also held at the Crucible between 1998 and 2003 but was withdrawn due to financial difficulties. The venue has also hosted championships of other sports, such as table tennis

30.
Mark Selby
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Mark Anthony Selby is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He is the reigning World Snooker and UK champion, having won titles for a second time in 2016, and is the current world number one. Selby joined the professional snooker tour in 1999 at the age of 16. In 2007, he was runner-up to John Higgins at the World Snooker Championship and his other ranking titles include the Welsh Open in 2008, the Shanghai Masters in 2011, the German Masters in 2015, the China Open in 2015 and the International Championship in 2016. Known as a patient, tough competitor with strong safety play and his nickname, The Jester from Leicester, was given to him by snooker compere Richard Beare after Willie Thorne came up with it during commentary. Selby is also a pool player and he is the 2006 WEPF eight-ball pool world champion and the 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship finalist. Selby was born in Leicester, England, malcolm Thorne, the brother of Leicester-born snooker player Willie Thorne, spotted Selbys snooker ability and provided Selby practice so he could practise every day after school. Selbys father died of cancer when Mark was 16, two months before he joined the professional tour. Mark showed potential as a teenager, but did not consistently shine until his twenties and he began his career on the UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He reached his first ranking final aged 19, the Regal Scottish in 2003, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, losing 9–7 in the final. Before that, he had already reached the semi-finals of the 2002 China Open. Selby reached the qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2002 and 2003 losing both times. In the 2007 World Championships, Selby beat Stephen Lee 10–7 in the first round and he then defeated former World Champion Peter Ebdon 13–8, with five centuries to reach the quarter-finals. In the quarter-final, he beat Ali Carter 13–12, from 11–8 up and 11–12 down and he went on to reach the final by beating Shaun Murphy 17–16 from 14–16 down, in another deciding frame which he won thanks to a 64 break. Thus he entered the session only 10–12 down and closed to within one frame at 13–14. It was noted by eventual world champion John Higgins, amongst others, in his victory speech and these performances in the 2006/07 season earned Selby a place in the top 16 for the very first time for the 2007/08 season, where he was ranked 11th. After a moderate start to the season, Selby had a run in the second highest ranking tournament. He led eventual winner Ronnie OSullivan 7–5, fell 7–8 behind, in the deciding frame, however, OSullivan made a 147 break to win 9–8

31.
Martin Gould
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Martin Gould is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He practises at the Rileys Watford pool and snooker club and he has appeared in three ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Gould began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000. In 2002, Gould won his first English Amateur Championship, beating Craig Taylor in the final, Gould reached the semi-finals of the 2002 European Championship. Gould enjoyed a run in the qualification for the 2003 World Snooker Championship, winning 8 matches, beating Alain Robidoux. Goulds campaign ended when he lost to Patrick Wallace, however, he dropped off the Main Tour after this sole season, and barely played for the next four years, having to look after his terminally ill mother. He then won the English Play-offs in Leeds to ensure his return to the Main Tour for 2007/08 season, Gould reached the last 32 of the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy, beating Matthew Stevens 5–4 from 3–0 down in the last 48. He also won multiple qualifying matches at both the UK Championship and World Championship qualifying events, although he did not ultimately qualify for either event and he finished the season inside the top 64. Gould came through qualifying for the 2008 UK Championship, beating Supoj Saenla 9–1, Tom Ford 9–6, Gould then also reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time, at the 2009 Welsh Open, beating Stephen Hendry 5–3 in the last 32. Solid qualifying results in the remainder of the season helped him into the top 48 in the rankings for 2009/10 season meaning Gould had only to win two matches to qualify for events. Despite dismal results during the first tournaments of 2009/10 season, he returned to the Crucible the following year. In the second round he spectacularly led Neil Robertson 6–0, 11–5 and 12–10, playing arguably his best snooker ever, Robertson went on to win the championship that year. He performed successfully during the minor-ranking PTC events, his best result being the final of the Event 6, having qualified to the PTC Grand Finals, in March 2011 Gould reached his first career final, where he was beaten 4–0 by Shaun Murphy. Gould once again qualified for the World Championship, and defeated Marco Fu 10–8 in a repeat of the years first round match. Gould was then defeated by reigning China Open champion and eventual World Championship runner-up and his consistent performances were enough to see him break into the elite top 16 for the first time in October, meaning he would no longer have to qualify for the ranking tournaments. In November, Gould won the Masters Trophy of the variant form of the game, Power Snooker, Gould finished 2011 by reaching the final of PTC Event 11, where he lost to Tom Ford 3–4. He also reached the semi-finals of Event 9 and Event 12 to finish 10th in the Order of Merit and seal his place in the Finals, Goulds recent rise up the world rankings earned him a place in the prestigious Masters tournament for the first time in 2012. Only the top 16 are invited to the event with Gould drawing Shaun Murphy in the first round, after breaking into the top 16, Gould only won two matches in ranking events during the rest of the campaign

32.
Judd Trump
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Judd Trump is an English professional snooker player from Bristol and former world number one. He enjoyed considerable success in tournaments before turning professional in 2005. On 3 April 2011, Trump won his first ranking title, following this success in China, he reached the final of the 2011 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by John Higgins. He then went on to win the 2011 UK Championship where he defeated Mark Allen 10–8 in the final, in November 2012, Trump won the inaugural International Championship and in doing so became world number one, a position he held for five weeks. On 18 February 2013, he reclaimed the top spot, in July 2014, Trump won his 4th ranking title at the Australian Goldfields Open after defeating Neil Robertson 9–5. He won the inaugural 2015 World Grand Prix beating Ronnie OSullivan 10–7 in the final, in October 2016, he again defeated OSullivan 9–8 to claim the European Masters title. Trump practises alongside Jack Lisowski and Liang Wenbo at the Grove Snooker Academy in Romford, a prolific break-builder, Trump has compiled more than 450 century breaks during his career. He is currently ranked at no.2, Trump was English Under-13 and Under-15 champion, and reached the World Under-21 Championship semi-finals at the age of 14. At the same age, he became the youngest player ever to make a competitive 147, in the 2005/06 season he joined the professional tour, and at the Welsh Open became the youngest player ever to qualify for the final stages of a ranking tournament. He reached the same stage for the China Open, losing 4–5 to Michael Holt, although this was designated the final qualifying round and was actually played in Prestatyn. Trump played the 2005 champion and 6th seed, Shaun Murphy, in the first round, Trump did not build on this form in the 2007/08 season, only reaching the last 32 of the Welsh Open by beating Joe Swail. He missed out on the World Championship after a 9–10 loss to Swail, things changed for the 2008/09 season when Trump reached the venue stages of the first four events. At the Grand Prix he benefited from Graeme Dotts withdrawal before defeating Joe Perry 5–2 in the last 16, despite admitting to not playing well and Perry feeling that he had outplayed Trump. Then came the biggest win of his career so far, defeating Ronnie OSullivan 5–4 to reach the semi-final and he beat double world champion Mark Williams to qualify for the 2008 Bahrain Championship. He won a tournament to gain entry into the 2009 Masters Tournament as the only qualifier. He failed to qualify for the World Championship, losing 8–10 to Stephen Lee having led 6–3, Lee considered this match to be a local derby, as he is from nearby Trowbridge. He also noted that Trump had not followed the custom of apologising for fluked shots during the match, today he blew a 6–3 lead and hopefully that will stick with him. Trump ended the season in the Top 32 of the rankings for the first time and he was coached for a short time by Tony Chappel

England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain

1.
Stonehenge, a Neolithic monument

2.
Flag

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Boudica led an uprising against the Roman Empire

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Replica of a 7th-century ceremonial helmet from the Kingdom of East Anglia, found at Sutton Hoo

Pound sterling
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It is subdivided into 100 pence. A number of nations that do not use sterling also have called the pound. At various times, the sterling was commodity money or bank notes backed by silver or gold. The pound sterling is the worlds oldest currency still in use, the British Crown dependencies of Guernsey and Jersey produce their own local issues of st

1.
The Hatter 's hat shows an example of the old pre-decimal system: the hat costs half a guinea (10 shillings and 6 pence)

2.
All frequently used coins. The coins shown are those after the extensive 2008 redesign.

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A pound = 20 shillings = 240 silver pennies (formerly)

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£1 coin (Welsh design, 2000)

Glossary of cue sports terms
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There are also hybrid pocket/carom games such as English billiards. The terms American or US as applied here refer generally to North American usage, similarly, British terms predominate in the world of snooker, English billiards and blackball, regardless of the players nationalities. The term blackball is used in this glossary to refer to both bla

4.
Racking up a game of seven-ball using the diamond rack more commonly used for nine-ball, but sideways. The 1 ball is about to be placed on the foot spot to complete the rack.

Century break
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In snooker, a century break is a score of 100 points or more within one visit at the table without missing a shot, and requires potting of at least 25 consecutive balls. Over 20,000 century breaks have been recorded by snooker players throughout professional tournaments, Ronnie OSullivan holds the record for the most career centuries, with over 800

1.
Ronnie O'Sullivan has scored the most century breaks in professional snooker tournaments.

Snooker
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Snooker is a cue sport which originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century. It is played on a covered with a green cloth, or baize, with pockets at each of the four corners. Using a cue and 22 coloured balls, players must strike the ball to pot the remaining balls in the correct sequence. An individual game, or frame, is won by the pla

1.
2014 World Champion Mark Selby playing a practice game

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Illustration of a game of three ball pocket billiards in early 19th-century Tübingen, Germany

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Game in progress on a half-size table. A red ball about to be potted.

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An extended spider, which can be used to bridge over balls obstructing a shot that is too far away to be bridged by hand

Romford
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Romford is a large town in East London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located 14.1 miles northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a town in the county of Essex and formed the administrative centre of the liberty of Havering.

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Havering Town Hall on Main Road

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Romford in 1851

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The River Rom emerges from underground channels at Roneo Corner

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The market place

Atherstone
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Atherstone /ˈæðərstən/ is a town and civil parish in the English county of Warwickshire. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone forms part of the border with Leicestershire along the A5 national route and it lies midway between the larger towns of Tamworth and Nuneaton and contains the administrative offices of North Warwickshire Boroug

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Atherstone Market Square

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St Mary's Church

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Atherstone railway station.

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The ball played in the 813th Atherstone Ball game Shrove Tuesday 21 February 2012.

Nuneaton
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Nuneaton /nəˈniːtən/ is a town in Warwickshire, England. The population in 2011 was 81,877, making it the largest town in Warwickshire, the author George Eliot was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for much of her early life. Her novel Scenes of Clerical Life depicts Nuneaton, the Nuneaton built

Stephen Maguire
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Stephen Maguire is a Scottish professional snooker player. He has been a professional player since 1998, ranked in the top 16 consecutively for 11 years from 2005 to August 2016. He has won five ranking tournaments, including the UK Championship in 2004. As a prolific break-builder, Maguire has compiled more than 300 century breaks, Maguire began h

1.
Stephen Maguire

2.
Stephen Maguire at 2013 German Masters.

Steve Davis
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Steve Davis, OBE is an English former professional snooker player from Plumstead, London.5 million British viewers. He is a known public figure and is generally viewed by his peers as one of the greatest players of all time. In addition to his six titles, Daviss career achievements include three Masters and a record six UK Championship titles. He w

1.
Davis at the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic

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Steve Davis during a match against Ville Pasanen in 2008

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Davis playing a trick shot exhibition during the break of the 2012 German Masters final

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Davis was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2011.

John Higgins (snooker player)
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John Higgins, MBE is a Scottish professional snooker player. In terms of titles in the modern era, Higgins is fifth behind Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Ray Reardon. His 28 career ranking titles, put him in joint second place with Davis and OSullivan, known as a prolific break-builder, he has compiled 664 century breaks in professional tournament pl

Jimmy White
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James Warren Jimmy White, MBE is an English professional snooker player. Whites non-world championship achievements include the UK Championship, the Masters, a two-time winner of both the World Cup and the British Open, White was also the first left-handed player, and second player overall, to record a maximum break at the World Championship. White

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Jimmy White at the 2014 German Masters

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Jimmy White at the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic

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Neal Foulds and Jimmy White in an interview with Shaun Murphy after his victory against Mark Allen at the 2015 German Masters

Fergal O'Brien
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Fergal OBrien is an Irish professional snooker player. A member of snookers main tour since turning professional in 1991, OBrien has been ranked within the worlds top 64 players since 1994, reaching his highest position, 9th, for the 2000/2001 season. He has won one ranking title - the 1999 British Open, OBrien is the only player to score a century

1.
Fergal O'Brien at 2015 German Masters

Stephen Hendry
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Stephen Gordon Hendry, MBE is a Scottish former professional snooker player. Hendry became the youngest professional player in 1985 aged 16 and, in 1990, he was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion. He won the World Championship seven times, a record in the modern era, Hendry has the distinction of winning the most world ranking titles and is s

Ricky Walden
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Ricky Walden is an English professional snooker player from Bagillt. Walden turned professional in 2000 and it took him eight years to win his first ranking title at the Shanghai Masters and he has since won the 2012 Wuxi Classic and the 2014 International Championship and has been inside the top 16 in the season-ending rankings on four occasions.

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Ricky Walden at the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic

Shaun Murphy (snooker player)
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Shaun Murphy is an English professional snooker player, who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed The Magician, Murphy is noted for his cue action. Born in Harlow and raised in Irthlingborough, Murphy turned professional in 1998 and his victory at the World Championship was considered a major surprise as he was only the third qualifier to lift

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Shaun Murphy at the 2015 German Masters

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Murphy speaking with Mark Selby before the final of the 2008 Paul Hunter Classic

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Shaun Murphy at the 2009 Paul Hunter Classic

UK Championship (snooker)
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The UK Championship, known as the Betway UK Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional mens ranking snooker tournament. It is the second biggest-ranking tournament, after the World Championship and is one of the Triple Crown events, Mark Selby is the reigning champion. The UK Championship was first held in 1977 in Tower Circus, Blackpo

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The UK Championship trophy on display at the Alexandra Palace during the 2014 Masters

2011 UK Championship (snooker)
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The 2011 williamhill. com UK Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 3–11 December 2011 at the Barbican Centre in York, England. This was the first time that William Hill sponsored the event, john Higgins was the defending champion, but he lost in the second round 4–6 against Stephen Maguire. Judd Trump wo

1.
williamhill.com UK Championship

Mark King (snooker player)
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Mark King is an English professional snooker player. He has also appeared in two ranking tournament finals - the 1997 Welsh Open, where he lost 2–9 to Stephen Hendry, and the 2004 Irish Masters. King has reached the last 16 of the World Championship seven times, in 1998,1999,2001,2002,2008,2009 and 2013, King turned professional in 1991 and advance

1.
Mark King at the 2015 German Masters

Graeme Dott
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Graeme Dott is a Scottish professional snooker player and snooker coach from Larkhall. He turned professional in 1994 and first entered the top 16 in 2001 and he has won two ranking titles, the 2006 World Snooker Championship and the 2007 China Open, and was runner-up in the World Championships of 2004 and 2010. He reached number 2 in the rankings

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Graeme Dott at the 2011 German Masters.

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Graeme Dott at the 2014 German Masters

2012 Australian Goldfields Open
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The 2012 Australian Goldfields Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 9–15 July 2012 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia. It was the ranking event of the 2012/2013 season. Stuart Bingham was the champion, but he lost in the first round 4–5 against Matthew Selt. Barry Hawkins won his first ranking title b

1.
Australian Goldfields Open

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
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Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is a professional snooker player from Thailand. Un-Nooh first entered the tour for the 2009/10 season by winning the 2008 IBSF World Snooker Championship. He dropped off the tour after just one season. He received the Thai nomination to compete on the tour for the 2012/2013 season. As a new player on the tour he needed to win fou

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Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at the 2014 German Masters

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Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (2013)

Jamie Jones (snooker player)
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Jamie Jones is a Welsh professional snooker player, from Neath. He was the youngest ever player, at age 14, to make a maximum 147 break in competition, at the 2012 World Snooker Championship he reached his first ranking quarter-final. In 2002, he became the player to make a 147 in an official event, making it aged 14. Jones began his career by play

1.
Jamie Jones at the 2011 Paul Hunter Classic

Stuart Bingham
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Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player and a former World Snooker Champion. As an amateur, he won the 1996 IBSF World Snooker Championship and he first entered the top 32 in the world rankings for the 2006/2007 season, and first reached the top 16 during the 2011/2012 season. Bingham won the first ranking title of his career at th

1.
Bingham (right) at the 2015 German Masters

2.
Stuart Bingham at the 2013 German Masters.

Ryan Day
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Ryan Day is a Welsh professional snooker player. As a prolific break-builder, he has compiled more than 250 century breaks during his career, Day was born in Pontycymer, Bridgend, and began his professional career by playing UK Tour in 1998, at the time the second-level professional tour. He is named Young Player of Distinction of the season 2000/2

1.
Day at the 2015 German Masters.

2.
Ryan Day at the 2014 German Masters

Barry Hawkins
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Barry Hawkins is an English professional snooker player from Ditton in Kent. He has now spent twelve successive seasons ranked inside the top 32 and he reached his first ranking final and won his first ranking title at the 2012 Australian Goldfields Open. Hawkins has played in the stages of every World Championship since he made his Crucible Theatr

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Barry Hawkins

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Hawkins playing at German Masters 2013.

2013 World Snooker Championship
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The 2013 World Snooker Championship was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2013 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 37th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible and was the last ranking event of the 2012/2013 season, the event was sponsored by Bet

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Betfair World Snooker Championship

Ken Doherty
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Ken Doherty is an Irish professional snooker player, commentator and radio presenter. As an amateur, Doherty won the Irish Amateur Championship twice, the World Under-21 Amateur Championship and this made him the first, and so far one of only two players to have been world amateur and professional champion. The following year, he came close to brea

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Doherty playing at the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic

Crucible Theatre
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The Crucible Theatre is a theatre built in 1971 in the city centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. As well as performances, it hosts the most prestigious event in professional snooker. The Crucible Theatre was built by M J Gleeson and opened in 1971, in 1967 Colin George, the founding Artistic Director of the Crucible, recommended a thrust

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The redeveloped Crucible Theatre, 2010. Also visible is the Lyceum theatre (right) and the redeveloped Tudor Square (bottom)

Mark Selby
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Mark Anthony Selby is an English professional snooker player from Leicester. He is the reigning World Snooker and UK champion, having won titles for a second time in 2016, and is the current world number one. Selby joined the professional snooker tour in 1999 at the age of 16. In 2007, he was runner-up to John Higgins at the World Snooker Champions

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Mark Selby at the 2015 German Masters

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Mark Selby with the 2012 Paul Hunter Classic trophy

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Selby with 2015 German Masters trophy

Martin Gould
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Martin Gould is an English professional snooker player from Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow. He practises at the Rileys Watford pool and snooker club and he has appeared in three ranking finals and won one ranking title, the 2016 German Masters. Gould began his career by playing Challenge Tour in 2000. In 2002, Gould won his first English Am

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Martin Gould at the 2015 German Masters in Berlin

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Martin Gould at 2015 German Masters

Judd Trump
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Judd Trump is an English professional snooker player from Bristol and former world number one. He enjoyed considerable success in tournaments before turning professional in 2005. On 3 April 2011, Trump won his first ranking title, following this success in China, he reached the final of the 2011 World Snooker Championship where he was defeated by J